SUSTAINABILITY
Three key areas tackled en routeto Net Zero Carbon
Heidi Barnard, Group head of Sustainability at The Northern Care Alliance NHS Group of hospitals and community services in Greater Manchester, describes the organisation’s journey towards Net Zero Carbon.
In January 2020, just over a year ago, in a world before COVID-19 wasn’t in the daily headlines, the NHS launched the For a greener NHS programme, setting out on a journey to understand how we move the health and care system, responsible for an estimated 4-5 per cent of the country’s carbon footprint, to ‘net zero carbon’. The first step was to establish an expert panel to chart a practical route map, and on 1 October 2020, while we were beginning to face the second wave of COVID, the panel published its first report, Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service. Importantly, it reflected on the burden that coronavirus has placed on the NHS, and how it has been exacerbated and amplified by wider, deep-seated social, economic, and health concerns. It also highlighted how one of the most significant of these concerns is the climate emergency, and the health emergency1
it
represents, and made no apologies for pushing for progress in this area while still continuing to confront coronavirus.2
At the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, which brings together the Salford Royal and Pennine Acute Trusts, our reflection on the report is that there are three key areas we need to focus on: n Delivering tangible results. n Ensuring we look at our Direct, Indirect, and broader impacts, and
n How we influence in our communities for change.
Setting out our direction The Northern Care Alliance NHS Group brings together four hospitals, 2,000 beds, specialist and acute services, and a range of associated community healthcare services, across Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. We serve a population of over one million people, and employ 19,000 staff across the North West of England. Operating across Greater Manchester, both in an acute and community settings, we clearly have a strategic part to play in delivering on, and
being instrumental in leading and influencing, the wider communities in our region.
While our Green Plans (previously Sustainable Development Management Plans, or SDMPs ‘for short’) are not the oldest around, what we have been most keen to ensure is that ours becomes part of the fabric of our Group’s Annual Plan, Priorities, and Strategic Objectives (knows as Vision 2025.) This is also directly linked to how we deliver the NHS five-year Long Term Plan and GMHSCP (Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership).3
Strategic priorities We have six strategic priorities:
Our Outcomes n Clinical and Operational Excellence – by standardising approaches by service, specialty, and care pathways, we can improve the way we provide the services, which are then more
The Northern Care Alliance NHS Group brings together four hospitals, 2,000 beds, specialist and acute services, and associated community healthcare services, across Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. Pictured clockwise from top left: the Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, The Salford Royal, The Royal Oldham Hospital, and Rochdale Infirmary.
January 2021 Health Estate Journal 51
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